


An Unusual Meeting

by ShimmeringDarkness



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: E-Stripper, F/M, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Unexpected Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShimmeringDarkness/pseuds/ShimmeringDarkness
Summary: In attempts to cheer Emily up after a sad breakup, Penelope hires an E-Stripper to surprise her friend on her birthday. It doesn't quite work out as planned though, and it might just lead to something more.
Relationships: Emily Prentiss/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	An Unusual Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Like some of my other shorter one-shots and stories, not really proofread, I just had an idea and wanted to get it out there. Enjoy!

Emily had been laying in her bed reading a book in a comfy, old, Guns N’ Roses t-shirt from her teenage years taking advantage of their rare day off on a special occasion. Well it should’ve been, seeing as it was October 12, and her birthday, that happened to fall on a day Hotch had managed to swing as a recharge off day for them. Instead, she was reading a sappy book and indulging her feelings of sadness in the privacy of her house where she could let her emotions out of their little locked boxes. Her boyfriend of almost a year broke up with her 3 days prior and she was moping and being sad about how abruptly he’d dumped her, stating their lives ‘just didn’t mesh anymore’ and that she ‘wasn’t attentive or there enough, always rushing off somewhere new across the country’ and she couldn't understand how he was fine with it for so long, but oh  _ now _ it’s the end of the world that she does an important job she loves, well she wasn’t going to apologize for that.

She knew there was also a new secretary at his accounting firm that he had eyes for, and was pretty sure he’d just broken up with her so he could make a move on her and not feel guilty, but… ah well, she pulled herself out of her pity party as her phone buzzed with a really cryptic text from Penelope telling her to answer her phone when an unknown number rang and twenty minutes later she’d gotten an unknown facetime and answered, which brought her to now where all she could spit out was “What the actual hell?”

The unknown man on her screen smirked at her “Hey there beautiful, like what you see?”   
Emily froze where she was lounging and gaped her mouth like a fish at the man, the unflappable Emily Prentiss was in over her head in shock, confusion, she really wasn’t sure. This man, hot man, if she was honest, but Holy Shit! STRANGER! Was taking his shirt off on her screen.

“What is this?!” She swallowed “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

The man grinned at her “I’m your birthday surprise, Emily.”

He ran a hand down his now bare, muscular stomach and swiveled his hips in a wide circle making Emily freeze again. “My Birthday SURPRISE?... What are you talking about?”

This unknown man turned around to give her an amazing view of his tight, jean clad ass and she swallowed as he… danced?

“Your friend Penelope hired me.”

“Sorry? Uh what? To do what? Why? Huh?”

“To dance for you, she said you needed some cheering up for your birthday.”

“Oh good God Penelope did this, I’m going to kill her.”

The man turned back to face the camera and gave her a devastatingly hot smile and said “Or you could just sit back and enjoy the show… She paid me to dance for you for the hour.”

Emily froze again as she tried to process this… she didn’t know what to call it and then caught his thumb moving to the button on his pants and all she can spit out is “STOP!”

He smirks at her and toys with the zipper of his jeans and seductively murmurs “You want me to go slower?”

“No! Please, stop, seriously, keep your clothes on.”

He stopped and eyed her on the phone as he hesitated “Are you serious?”   
“Yes! Please! Look, I’m sorry that my ridiculous friend butted in and wasted your time, but I’m not interested in this.”

The man slid back and sat on the chair behind him “Okayyy, this is a first.”

Emily sighs and relaxes back against her headboard but narrows her eyes “Who even are you?”

“My name is Matt, and I’m an E-Stripper.”

Emily sputtered “what exactly is that?”

Matt smiled kindly at her “It’s like instead of stripping at a club or venue, I do dances over facetime.”

Emily eyes him wide eyed and slowly processes “An… E-Stripper, okayyy.”

He frowns and shifts almost uncomfortably “Hey, don’t judge.”

Emily eyes him through the phone ”Oh, I’m not, just surprised, and I’ve never heard of it, and it’s something I would've thought I’d have heard of, sorry.”

Matt smiled slightly “Just trying to pay my way through the end of med school and student loans, internships, residency all that.”

Emily nodded “Hey, I can respect that, that’s impressive, putting yourself through med school.”

Matt nodded “Technically I’m only a resident, but yeah, it’s a lot of money to do the whole thing.”

Emily got up and paced her room muttering and thinking over what the heck was happening and said “I should’ve known she was up to something when she told me to answer and unknown call, god, how can I not suspect anything, because she’d Penelope and always doing crazy things, that’s how. I can’t believe she’d do this though.”

Matt leaned back in his chair, “I’m sure your friend had good intentions. Oh and Happy Brithday by the way.”

Emily couldn’t help but smile “Thanks, and you’re right, this is yet another one of her wacked plans to make someone, in this case me, feel better.”

He cleared his throat and said “Is… Is everything okay?”

“Thanks for asking, but I’m good, and she didn’t hire you to listen to my life’s never ending drama, I’ll let you go.”

“I mean, she already paid for the hour, wouldn’t want to waste your friend’s money or anything, talk to me.”

Emily eyed him curiously, she hated talking about her problems, but to a guy she’d never see again, well, she bit her lip contemplating if she really wanted to make a stranger, and E-Stripper no less, practically her therapist.

Matt smiled at her “What’s his name?”

“Sorry?”

Matt just gave her a look and she sighed, sinking back onto her bed against her headboard “Marcus.”

Matt said nothing and for some reason she continued “He broke up with me three days ago.”

“Right before your birthday, what an asshole.”

Emily tried to lock her emotional boxes again, but for once they weren’t working and she could feel tears, “He told me our lives weren’t compatible anymore, and he didn’t like my job and how often I’m not home anymore. And I’m pretty sure there’s a new girl at his job he wants to ask out, so he broke up so he wouldn’t feel guilty. Like I actually thought I found a decent guy for once, who could put up with me, and my job, and be hot, and just like we were dating for almost a year so he completely blindsided me, like it took you 11 months to decide you couldn’t do my job? I thought things might actually work for more than a few months this time.”

She can see the displeasure and disgust on Matt’s face, “Christ, he needs a good dose of number ten.”

Emily finally blinks back the ten “Number ten?”

Matt blushes, “I was in the military a while, Marines reserve now, military slang, he needs my number ten sized boot so far up his ass he’ll need a k-bar and flashlight to find it.”

Emily can’t help but burst out laughing and bends forward in her giggle fit. “Oh my god that is amazing.”

Matt smiles thinking the woman who was supposed to be a client of his might actually have grabbed his attention for once.

He gives her a sincere smile, “Seriously Emily, people who really love you shouldn’t hurt you like that, and definitely not intentionally like that.”

Emily nods and Matt continues “Besides, any guy who would let a beautiful, fun girl like you get away has something messed up in his head.”

Emily chuckles but feels her cheeks flush and heart skip a beat, is this hot, perfect man, flirting with her?

Emily smiles at him slightly “Thanks, that’s sweet, but you don’t know me. I'm not really the most fun person around.”

He crosses his arms cockily making his bulging arm muscles flex and Emily can’t help but stare until he says “Well, for one you’re wearing an awesome band t-shirt, one of my favorites so I know you listen to music and can have a good time. And for two, you have pictures on your bedside table of you and lots of other people out and about or in bars so you obviously get out with friends, and maybe travel with them too?”

Emily can’t help but think this is what other people must feel like when they profile them but smiles “I suppose, but those pictures are my team I work with, we’re a family too though kind of, so we do a lot of stuff outside of work together too. So yeah, we've gone on a little traveling and stuff, but I've traveled to a lot of places on my own too."

Matt smiled "That sounds nice. What do you do then with this team that's also your family?"

Emily hesitated but decided why not and said with a grin "I work for the FBI."

Matt looked impressed "Holy shit, so you're a complete badass then, what do you do run all over the country and catch the baddest of the baddies?”

He asked in a joking tone that made Emily laugh but deadpan “Pretty much.”

He blinked “Wait huh?”   
“I’m a supervisory special agent who’s a profiler for the Behavioral Analysis Unit. We go on cases all over the country to catch the worst of the worst.”

“Oh my god, that’s awesome.”

Emily smiled “Thanks, it’s a hard, grueling, sometimes devastating job, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. We hunt down so many horrific unsubs and we can’t always save everyone, but the ones we do make it all so worth it.”

Matt smiled at her “That’s amazing Emily, and I just want to say that anyone who would give up a relationship with you over your job doesn’t deserve you.”

Emily smiled ruefully “Thanks, and I guess it would seem that way from the outside, but this job is hell on relationships, my boss’s wife divorced him and tried to keep their 5 year old son away from him because she couldn’t handle it anymore, and she was stepping out on him we’re pretty sure even before that, and then she ended up losing her life because of her ex-husband’s job because one of the unsubs we were hunting went after her and their son. My 2nd pseudo boss, he’s the senior profiler of the team and just under the unit chief, has been divorced three times, granted not all of them were because of the job but it strained the relationships, one of my best friends and coworkers goes through women practically weekly, though he may have finally found one who we all think is perfect for him, and she’s a doctor so she gets the stress of being on call 24/7 better than most. That might work out but other than that there’s only one successful, happy marriage on our team at least, and her husband’s a cop so he gets the life better but even they occasionally argue about how much she works.” She trailed off and blushed “And I’m really sorry, you didn’t want and or need to hear all that.”

Matt just smiled at her “Hey, I asked…” he cuts off at Emily’s frown “What’s wrong.”

She sighs “Marcus, he’s trying to facetime me, but you’re right, if he was willing to throw us away just to ask his freakin’ secretary out, he doesn’t deserve me.”

Matt smiles sadly at her “You can answer if you want though.”

Emily hesitates “Okay… Just can you stay on mute for a second, just so you know I have someone I can talk to instead of being mopey by myself?”

His face lights up in a grin and it makes Emily’s heart flutter, why did she never feel like this with Marcus, maybe she never really did love him, like him, think he had a hot body, sure, but did he see a long term future with him, house, marriage, maybe kids? Not really. 

She switches the calls and answers Marcus’ facetime and he immediately starts in “Thanks for picking up, I didn’t think you would.”

Emily’s features harden “I thought about it. What do you want Marcus?”

“To say sorry, and to tell you I made a huge mistake.”

Emily purses her lips and decides to make a guess “Let me guess, she said no?”

Marcus babbles for a second “What, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Emily glares “Seriously, you’re trying to lie to a profiler right now? I know you were interested in that new secretary.”

Marcus says nothing and Emily harrumphs. “Right, so she says no and you think you can come crawling back after all the insults and everything you yelled at me when you broke up?”

Marcus sighs “I didn’t even end up asking her, I don’t know what came over me, it’s not her I want, it’s you.”

Emily sighs, yesterday, or even that morning, she would’ve accepted it and gone back, given him a doover, said how much she missed him to, let him apologize and forgiven him, but Matt’s words rang in her ears ‘people who really love you shouldn’t hurt you like that’ and she gritted her teeth before she said sadly “I thought we were happy.”

“We were! We are! We still can be, I made a mistake, I love you Emily.”

Emily sighs and shakes her head “No, Marcus, we can’t be, a good friend told me that someone who really loves me wouldn’t hurt me like that. I’m sorry, but this between us, it’s over.”

Marcus shakes his head frantically “No, Em, please, baby. Who told you that?”

Emily pinches her lips to fight the smile “An e-stripper.”

She disconnects the call to Marcus’ shouts of “A what? You’re friends with a what?”

She switches back to Matt and unmutes it “He wanted me back, he apologized.”

She swears she sees Matt’s face sink, but then the expression is gone but all he says is “Okay, that’s good I guess, right, you like him.”

Emily shakes her head “No, you were right, people who love you shouldn’t hurt you. I ended it, for good. You also made me realize that maybe what I felt for him, I cared for him, but it wasn’t love, not like I could have, not like I want.”

Matt grins widely “Nice! Good job Emily, I’m proud of you.”

That little bit of praise lights up Emily’s insides and she’s mind blown by what he says next.

Matt swallows “I’m going to take a giant leap here Emily, but you seem like an interesting person, I love your laugh, you’re gorgeous, and I’ve never met anyone who can make me laugh and smile like you can, and in less than an hour, so maybe, if you’d be interested, we could get to know each other a little better?”

Emily’s stomach butterflies flutter around and choke up her throat but she grins and nods “I think I would love that Matt, you make me laugh, smile, and feel emotions, feel happy like I can’t remember. You light my insides up with happiness and you make me laugh. You make me think that I’m enough, that I’m good enough, that I’m practically perfect, and no ones ever done that before. You’re quite possibly the hottest god I’ve ever laid eyes on, but Matt…”

She trails off with a frown and Matt nervously bites his lip as he waits for her to continue and finally she does “did you not hear anything I said about relationships with my job? It’s really hard on both people, but especially the one that’s not part of the team. We spend probably 70 or 80 hours a week together, we spend more time with each other than with our boyfriends or girlfriends sometimes. I want to try this with you, I do, but if you’re going to get jealous or not want to be around the team, then I don’t know. Not to mention Haley, that was my bosses wife, she was murdered because of who her  _ ex _ husband was, they weren’t even married anymore. Trying to have a serious relationship with me could quite well put your life in danger.”

Matt gulped slightly nervously, but none of that overcast what he already felt for the dark haired beauty, “Okay. I know all that, and I still want to do this, please Emily, give me a shot, let me prove that I’m worthy of you, that I can handle whatever you, or your job throw at me.”

Emily smiled “Okay, but first, I want the chance to give you one more warning.”

Matt grinned “Fine, and then we move onto better topics.”

Emily rolled her eyes “Dating me, dating a profiler, is hard, there’s more obstacles than normal. For one, the job always, always, comes first, most people can’t handle that, being essentially tied for first. If I get a call at 2 in the morning it doesn’t matter if we’re talking, sleeping, doing anything else, I have to go in, right away. Second, I come home from some cases a spectacular, angry or sad, emotional mess. I will sometimes take that out on you even if you don’t deserve it. You live surrounded by secrets because I can’t always talk about classified cases. This team is a family too, we’re not just a boss and colleagues and subordinates, Hotch and Rossi, they're like the dads, me and Reid, Morgan, JJ, we’re practically siblings. Jack and Henry, they're the BAU kids, because they are their parents’ kids, but they're all of ours too. Penelope, she’ll run your name up the west coast and down the east on every law enforcement background check she can do. The team will profile endlessly for months until they decide if they like you or not. You're not just entering my life, you’re joining a family. We work crazy hours, and then we go and have team barbecues or go on an occasional vacation together, we get together for holidays, and if you can’t handle that, I’m not judging, but I want you to go into this eyes wide open.”

Matt waited until she was done and grinned “Look Emily, I’m not going to promise I can handle this, or that we’ll even work out, but I want to try this, try us, and see where we can get.”

Emily smiled and the two settled into a conversation that Matt started “So, where do you live?”

Emily smiled “Virginia, northeast near Quantico. I have a nice, smallish, house in Stafford, if you’ve ever heard of it before.”

Matt grinned “I have actually, I’m from a smaller town in Pennsylvania, but I went to Georgetown Medical school, and I live in an apartment in Annandale. I’m doing my residency at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington.”

Emily’s jaw dropped “Holy crap, you’re only like 45 minutes away, my boss actually lives in Annandale so I’m familiar with the area.”

Matt smiled and Emily scrunched her eyes up for a minute before saying “If you’d rather not answer that’s fine, but I mean Penelope will tell me anyways because even if I tell her not to she’ll run a background check on you.”

Matt laughed “Ah well, I have nothing to hide, and no, it’s not too personal, I’m 31. I know, kind of old to not be done with my residency yet, but like I mentioned earlier, I was in the military, went into the Marines at 18 right out of high school, so it got delayed a little.”

Emily nodded and smirked “To save you the awkwardness of asking I’m 34, so not that much older.”

Matt laughed again and looked thoughtful for a minute before asking “In the least creepy way, what's your last name, you know, so I can put your number in my phone?”

Emily snorted “Prentiss, Emily Prentiss.”

Matt smiled “Matt Caruso.” The two relaxed into easy conversation not even realizing it had been nearly two more hours before they wrapped up. Before they hung up though, Matt worked up the confidence to ask her to dinner the next night, and Emily agreed happily, but introducing him quickly to the ‘if I’m on a case I’ll have to cancel though’ but at least for now Matt was completely understanding.

The next day was a dreary monday, but Emily couldn’t help the pep in her mood as she got to work. Derek tried to interrogate her on what was going on, but she purposefully ignored him before finally playing the oppressed little sister and making Rossi drag Derek into his office to give her a minute to actually focus on work without him hovering over her shoulder. Derek came back pouting and childishly stuck his tongue out at Emily as he flopped down at his desk to work on his own paperwork. FInally when JJ emerged into the bullpen, Emily jumped up and grabbed her arm and drug her to Penelope’s office who spun sharply as the door to her lair bounced open. JJ and Emily quickly sat on the sofa and Emily clapped her hands like an excited teenager “Okay, 911 girl talk.”

JJ and Penelope both quickly perked up and Emily smiled “I have a first date tonight with someone named Matt, who is just about the hottest person I’ve ever seen. He seems nice, he’s amazingly funny, he makes me smile and we can, and did literally talk for hours without realizing it yesterday. We seem perfect for each other, and I don’t know but I have very, very high hope here, and he asked me out and he lives in Annandale and we’re going on a date and oh my god I sound like an excited teengager but I need outfit help because I really, really, want to make a good impression.”

Both blondes grinned excitedly, if Emily Prentiss was getting excited over someone, he had to at least be pretty good quality. Penelope was the first one to talk “Okay, details, we will come over and help you get ready like the awesome sisters we are, and then you will tell us all about the date tomorrow, capisce.”

Emily couldn’t even deny it and nodded and smiled “Okay, so FBI agent and all, we’re just meeting at the restaurant, but he’s taking me to that new supposedly really good Italian restaurant in Stafford. It’s actually pretty near me and I’ve been wanting to go but haven't yet, so I’m excited. His last name is Caruso, and he kind of looks a little Italian maybe? He joined the Marines straight out of high school at 18 and then left after a while. He went to Georgetown and did an undergrad/med school dual track program and is completing his residency at Virginia Hospital in Arlington. He’s finishing an emergency medicine residency right now, but he did a dual residency (a/n idk if this is possible but for my story anything is possible) and he’s doing a surgical residency too. He said his first year of his emergency medicine residency, he realized that was what he wanted to do, but he hated just handing patients off to the surgical staff and not seeing them through, so this way he’ll be able to do it all and take care of the patient the whole way.”

She trailed off as the searches Garcia had already started running brought in results and she started reading them,occasionally, speaking up for Emily and JJ when she saw fit. “Matthias David Caruso, mom immigrated from Italy, met his dad who just so happened to be Italian-American, married in Pennsylvania, had Emily’s crush 5 years later and his little sister Annaliese though it appears she goes by Anna 3 years after him. His mom and dad… oh my goodness, died in a car crash just after his 18th birthday. Matt took custody of his little sister but then joined the Marines and Anna lived with their Aunt until she went off to college at George Mason University. His sister is… oh my freaking gosh.”

JJ and Emily frowned “What?”

Penelope laughed and looked at Emily “Oh it’s a match made in heaven. She’s a 4th grade teacher at Jack and Henry’s school.”

Emily just shook her head at the coincidence and Garcia continued “Anyways, I’m not really finding much criminal on your new beau Em, the only real legal case he was in was when he fought to adopt his little sister over letting her go into foster care. He’s had a couple tickets here and there but nothing else. Squeaky clean, go get ‘im Emily.”

Emily smiled and laughed “Oh my god I already want today to be over, I’m so excited for tonight, oh and dinner’s at 6:30 so I need to leave my house by 6:10 so be there at like 5 so we can make me look like a princess.”

Penelope grinned “Oh sweetie, you already look like a princess, but yes, never fear, we’ll be over by 5. Now we have this annoying thing called work and seeing as it’s 10:05 we have a morning briefing to be late to.”

JJ and Emily jumped up as Penelope unplugged her laptop and the three raced out of her lair and up to the briefing room where all four of the guys were waiting and Hotch was leaning on the wall at the front with a vaguely amused expression on his face but his arms were crossed as he tried to look unhappy. Derek piped up as they got seated and JJ stood next to Hotch “Lots of girl talk this morning ladies?”

The girls blushed but Penelope laughed and patted his cheek “Always my handsome prince, we have many important things to talk about.”

The team chuckled and finally got back to work, but at 4:30 on the dot, as they had no case and had done consults all day, they managed to get Hotch to let them leave early and all three women whirled out the door, much to the amusement of the guys on the team., though Derek was suspicious and while they were all in Hotch’s office at the end of the day grumbled “Why do I feel like I wouldn’t like whatever they’re doing tonight.”

Spencer piped up with a laugh “Because you probably wouldn’t, they didn’t say anything for a reason.”

Hotch gave him an almost smile and said “Profile it, you’re the overprotective big brother for those 3 girls, so they’re doing something backwards and in failed attempts at secrecy like that because they don’t want you knowing or butting in, or any of us too. If it was something we wouldn’t care about they wouldn’t have talked about it in a girls meeting, I would’ve been refocusing us all briefing and all day. If it was something none of us would like much?”

Morgan frowned and processed that before recognition lit his eyes “Oh wait, mm-mm, one of them’s going on a date?!”

The whole room laughed and Morgan frowned and Rossi grinned “Yes, they are adults and they’re allowed to have social lives and go out on dates.”

Morgan crossed his arms and harrumphed so Reid offered up “I’m sure Garcia ran a background check on him already, it’s not that big of a deal Derek.”

Morgan just grumbled and then feebly protested, “But they’re my…”

He trailed off and Rossi looked at him with a gentle smile “But they’re your sisters.”

Derek nodded and bit his lip, “It just hit me, they’re just as much my sisters and Sarah or Des, I just want to protect them and I just urgh, I already have enough stress from my two sisters dating, now I have 3 more dating, gah.”

Reid grinned and teased “Well technically one’s already married so you just have to worry about your baby girl and your princess.”

Derek chuckled, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Back at Emily’s apartment Penelope was putting the finishing touches on her makeup and hair while she blindly attempted to slide on her heels. JJ had finished smoothing out her eggplant colored, that was tight down her body to just above her knee, and had a loose, fluttery, overlay. She had a black purse and plackheels with silver detailing and looked stunning. It had taken some maneuvering to figure out the turquoise dress she had wanted to wear didn't have a slit. She'd never worn it and it had been an impulse buy that clearly wasn't going to work out so she made a mental note to return it as she couldn't really get to her gun on her thigh without flashing the world. They had all shared a laugh over the large portion of her dresses for formal events or whatever that had a slit down the side and this purple dress had been bought when she got the turquoise one, but right now she was really liking it.

They finished making her all dolled up and after Penelope took a million pictures Emily whine she felt like she was going to prom, Emily was finally ready to go and left right at 6:10, trying to keep a lock on her excitement but not sure how well she was actually doing at that, a slightly unnerving thought but even that couldn't overshadow it.

She met Matt at the entrance to DeMarini's with an excited smile and the revelation he was even more gorgeous in person. The dinner went very well, and the conversation between them flowed easily. Emily, despite having broken up with such a long time boyfriend so recently, honestly couldn't remember when she'd had so much fun on, or enjoyed a date so much. When the two finished the meal, Matt paid the check over Emily's protests, though internally she was cooing over the gesture. When they exited the restaurant Matt slipped his hand subtly into Emily's and the two walked peacefully towards the parking lot, laughing when they realized that Matt had parked his silver Honda Pilot just across from Emily's black Ford Edge. Emily felt herself reluctant to let go and after a second offered, "If you're interested, Middleton Park is only a couple of miles over that way, we could go for a walk maybe?"

Matt grinned and Emily felt her heart skip a beat, "I'd love to."

He glanced down and smirked at her "I think maybe we should drive over there though, I can't imagine you want to walk that far in heels."

Emily looked down at her feet and sighed "Very true, we could um- take your car and then just bring me back here when we're done?"

Matt's face lit up in the 8:30 moonlight, "then your chariot awaits only you madam."

He added a cheeky grin and Emily laughed and held out her hand delicately, and Matt took it, opening the passenger door of his car for her. Emily couldn't help but profile him and his car as he crossed to the other side and got in the driver's seat, and was overall pleased, even though he hadn't expected anyone else in the car, it was neat and clean, and didn't smell off, it was a nice car. They turned out of the parking lot and onto the street, driving a short ways before a cop car pulled behind them from a side street but just drove along, not doing anything, just on routine shift. 

Emily didn't miss how Matt's whole body tensed and his knuckles gripped the wheel tightly. She frowned "you okay?"

Matt forced out a half hearted chuckle and quipped "so would now be a bad time to mention that I don't exactly have the best relationship with cops? Aka I'm kind of terrified of being pulled over."

Emily blinked "why?"

"I didn't live in a particularly wealthy neighborhood growing up, and cops there were always looking for reasons to try and haul you down to the station, 2 miles over, signaled too early, or too late, you're getting pulled over guaranteed."

Emily sighed "I'm sorry about that, but if it helps, I know a lot of DCPD, there bad cops everywhere, but a lot of them are really good people who want to protect and do the right thing."

Matt tried to force a smile "yeah, maybe."

He stopped at a stop sign and the second he got through, the lights on the squad car flipped on and he cursed under his breath before flashing an apologetic look "Sorry, but I'm not thinking that helps anymore."

Emily frowned and reached over to gently squeeze his hand "It's fine, don't stress, I'm right here, if you can handle it, just let me talk okay?"

Matt dug his fingers into the wheel but nodded and did his best to relax as he put the car in park and the car pulled over behind him. He watched in the mirror as a cop walked up and leaned down into the window, and shined a light in the car. 

A slightly accented voice, in a much politer tone than he was used to, asked "License, insurance, and registration, please, sir."

Matt swallowed hard and handed the cards over, jumping when Emily's voice spoke to the cop looking at the paperwork in his hand. "While I thank you so very much for doing your job Detective LaMontange, why did you pull us over?"

The cop, LaMontagne, apparently, frowned, then his mouth turned into a smirk and shined the light back in the car before laughing as Emily… what the actual hell… did she just stick her tongue out at a police officer?!

The cop shook his head "Evenin' Em'ly, how ya doin' t'night?"

"I was doing better before you totally crashed my date Will."

Will shook his head "M' most sincere apologies…. So dis is the guy I heard all about at dinner an hou' or two ago?"

Emily groaned "Good lord JJ does not know how to keep her mouth shut. Yes, as you just read, this is Matt my date. Wait dinner, oh you got the 3rd shift this week?”

Will nodded “Sorta, new policy from de chief, one week a mont’ even de people who aren’t usually on de streets are getting out, just to stay current, I figured 3rd shift is easier dis week since y’all had Saturday and Sunday off, and Jay said Strauss be givin’ Hotch a hard time about gettin’ paperwork in, so you were at home for de week, den Henry can have someone home fo’ him.”

Emily nodded “Why did you pull us over though?”

Will nodded “Right, M. Caruso, you have a brake light out, I jus’ want’d to let ya know but I have no interest in doin’ de pape’work to give you a citation for it, so y’r free to go. Have a good night, be safe. See you later Emily.”

Matt nodded and let out a breath while Emily smiled at Will “You too, be safe Will, tell Henry hi for me, but I swear to god Will, if I am assaulted by JJ tomorrow wanting to know about her husband crashing my date, _we_ _are_ going to have problems.”

Will chuckled “Ah make no promises. Have a good night.”

“Grrr.”

Emily grumbled jokingly at Will as he turned around to walk back and get back in his car.

Emily and Matt pulled back into traffic and on to the park. Emily could tell Matt was still kind of tense from their experience so she held his hand again as they chose a path to walk around on and gently rubbed the back of his thumb. She felt him let out a sigh as he relaxed and smiled as she leaned her head on his shoulder, and was amused, but happy to note even in two inch heels he was still almost an inch taller than her. So, she had a thing for taller guys, oh well, and this particular made her want to fall head over heels after only ever talking to him twice, which was nuts, falling head over heels in love, that fast no less, was not something composed, proper, daughter of a diplomat supervisory special agent Emily Prentiss did, but oh, apparently she did.

Eventually they came to a little white gazebo and decided to sit for a little while as they looked out at the stars. The two once again fell into interesting and wonderful conversation. It was the same for each of them, they were so interested in the other that one new thing they learned led to them wanting to know ten more.

Finally at nearly midnight they had gotten back to Matt’s car and made the short drive back to Emily’s car uneventfully this time. He pulled in next to her car as the lot was pretty empty by then, and held her door open for her to get out. She stepped back towards her car as Matt watched with that breathtaking smile that made his heart stop. Before she reached it though, he spoke up “Emily?”

She raised her eyebrows in what he had already quickly learned was often an invitation to continue, or begin speaking, not always surprise, so he nervously did. “I had a really good time tonight, maybe we could do it again soon?”

Emily felt her heart jump and could’ve squealed. Even if she held that inside though, the grin tha tilt up her face spoke enough for her, “I would love to, thank you, I had an amazing night Matt.”

Matt smiled, “So did I Emily.”

He hesitantly stepped forwards and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. They locked eyes and he could see the approval in their vast depths as well as her miniscule head tilt, and he gently pressed his lips down to hers, feeling overwhelmed by the intense fireworks it prompted.He had to force himself to pull back before they went too far for a first date, but he could see the lust and happiness shining in Emily’s eyes as well when he did, so he knew it hadn’t been one sided.

Emily finally murmured “Wow,” after a second and Matt chuckled. “Wow exactly. Goodnight Emily, stay safe if you get called on a case okay?”

Emily smiled and nodded “You too, you’re an awesome resident, you got this.”

This time it was Matt’s turn to smile and nod before finally the two dragged their gazes away from each other and got into their respective cars.

When Emily got into work the next morning, not technically late, but later than she usually was seeing as she was usually 15 or 30 minutes early, and both JJ and Penelope were waiting by her desk anxiously. The second she pushed the bullpen doors open they were practically on her, dragging her up to JJ’s office before firmly shutting and locking the door as they were closer to it than Penelope’s at the moment.

When the door was locked Penelope immediately wheeled on Emily “Oh my god, tell us everything, how was the date, was he as hot as his picture, did he kiss you? Ohhhh, did you two do the bedroom boogie, was that why you were almost late?!”   
Emily rolled her eyes “No, we did not, we went home by ourselves, in our own cars. It was amazing, he’s sinfully god-like, funny, charming, kind, loveable. We had an amazing dinner before walking along a park for a while just talking and relacing, and it was great. We’re going to try date number two in a few days assuming we’re not on a case.”

Emily went on to relay the finer details of the date at the prying of her friends. Both were suitably amused with Will pulling them over, but she moved passed it quickly and they moved onto the other sweet, amazing moments of the date.

Derek and Rossi on the other hand though, when they walked into Penelope’s lair while the girls were talking were less amused and giddy with the idea of their pseudo-sister/daughter going on a date.

After taking in the quick and defensive explanations, Derek eyed Emily “Are you going on another date?”

Emily blushed and nodded “Yeah, it was really, he was soo perfect.”

“I want to meet him.”

He crossed his arms firmly and Dave mirrored his pose while Emily shook her head “Nope, you can meet him in a few months if we’re still dating, I mena I hope we are but I want to have something stable before you try to terrorize the hell out of him.”

“But…”

He was cut off abruptly by Emily, “No but, Pen did a background check already, and I think he’s a good person, just trust me, okay?”

Derek sighed and nodded “Fine, but I want it on the record that I want to meet this man sooner than later.”

“I’ll think about it, now shoo, we have more girl talk.”

The guys rolled their eyes but left as requested and the girls were quickly turned back to Emily wanting all the juicy gossip.


End file.
